The ride-hailing firm Ola has announced that it will cover the vaccination costs for all its employees and any of their dependents. In addition, the firm will also cover direct contractual employees, consultants, advisors, and any of their immediate dependents including spouse, children, and parents.
Ola is doing this vaccination drive in addition to its existing medical insurance policy and it’ll cover all geographies it operates in around the world. Those over the age of 60 or 45 with co-morbidities will be addressed first before expanding to other groups as governments begin offering vaccines to those groups.
Discussing the initiative, Ola Spokesperson Varun Dubey said:
“We are happy to announce that Ola has decided to cover vaccination costs across the group. At Ola, we prioritize the health and well-being of not only our employees and their loved ones but also our extended family who work directly with us including advisors and consultants. While this vaccine is voluntary, it is also one of the most effective tools to fight against COVID-19. As the Government gears up for the next phase of the vaccination drive, we encourage all our employees and their families to opt for the vaccine and fight against COVID-19.”
If Ola is indeed bringing this scheme to all markets it operates in, it will be more relevant in some countries than others. In the UK, one of Ola’s markets, the National Health Service (NHS) already offers vaccinations for free with the aforementioned groups already having received their first doses of the vaccine. It will be interesting to see what comes of this scheme though.